The Biggest Questions of All

[Hagar]

Some people believe that we are the descendants of aliens. That would explain a lot too.

Personally speaking, if I was an ultra-intelligent alien investigating this little planet in the back of nowhere with its primitive & warlike occupants I would advise all my fellow ultra-intelligent aliens to give it wide berth.

[denishc]

 Maybe Earth is the aliens equivalent to Botany Bay and they stuck all their malcontents here.  That would explain alot too.

[Jaffa]

Who says that we are so bad?  Maybe the other beings oout there are far more violent or just as violent.  Any maybe there are 'paradise' places out.  Who knows?  

I don't and always end up driving myself crazy considering everything...it frustrates me so I just end up forgetting it all.

[Travis]

[quote]Who says that we are so bad?

[Jaffa]

Who says they are more advanced? Perhaps we haven't exchanged radio signals because they haven't been at the radio age yet.

And really, they only way we could be more violent is all-out nuke war, and it is doubtful any sane species would use nuke.

[denishc]

 Jaffa wrote:  ".......and it is doutful any sane spices would use nuke."

 Need I remind you that we've set off nukes in our atmosphere just to see what they would do!  Does that make us insane?
 I do believe that it is to our credit that we haven't annihilated ourselves with them....yet.

 One more thing, you can't judge others by our standards.  What we think is horrific, others may see as a logical solution to a problem.

[denishc]

 My biggest fear about finding life in space is that we'll bring back some alien microbe that our immune system has no defence against, and that it will spread across the Earth, leaving a dead planet in its wake.

[Travis]

[quote]Who says they are more advanced? Perhaps we haven't exchanged radio signals because they haven't been at the radio age yet.[quote]

Earth has undergone an incredible amount of change in its history.  There have been something like seven massive extinctions (the most well-known being the dinosaurs) and numerous small extinctions.  As a species on this planet, humans have come about very recently.

So if there is another planet out there that can support life, logically it will have evolved at least as much as us, and probably a lot more.  IE, it might not have been decimated as badly, and so any species that was able to get a foothold would dominate the planet.  If the dinos hadn't been wiped out, they would probably have evolved to be as intelligent as humans.  And that was 65 million years ago.

[Katahu]

Well, it is kind of scary when it comes to an alien disease that we can't prevent or stop.

But remember, no matter how strong a plague is, there will always be survivors. Those who survive are obviously immune. It is then a matter of time to find out what caused the immunity.

Look at the Black Plague back in the renaissance. Europe was almost wiped out of human life, but there were survivors.

Also remember. The human body has the ability to adapt.

[Travis]

If its such a bad plague, it will probably be quarantined after discovery.

The astronauts (or spacemen, or whatever) would have to make the journey home, which would take a minimum of ten years without FTL travel, so they would most likely be dead already, unless the disease has a VERY long incubation period.

[Hagar]

[quote]

[Travis]

I have faith in the human race.

Humans, individually, are intelligent creatures.

Humans, in groups, are incredibly stupid.

[Hagar]

Humans, individually, are intelligent creatures.

Humans, in groups, are incredibly stupid.

I won't argue with that. LOL

[denishc]

 I vote with Hagar, we're not insane just plain stupid!!    But I disagree with him that its only a matter of time before we distroy our planet.  Oh we may suck all the oil out of it and make a few more species of animals extinct but I believe we'll stop ourselves just before we waste the whole thing.

[Poseidon]

Socrates had said: "I know that I know nothing". This is where we stand and it is a beggining at least.

Our technology is just a joke if we talk about universe exploration. Even if space ships travelled with the speed of light it would take years to travel to the nearest stars. Only aquirung technology based on the space curvature would have an effect but noone is sure this can be done.

On the other hand signal transmitions althoug faster the space ships have similar limitations. Signals from other civilizations to earth? Why? If they can send signals to us they must be much more advanced and then why they should bother. Would you try to contact a fly? I don't thing so unless you had bad plans but this is mostly like an X-files scenario.
Remember that a lot of "noise" is received from radio-telescopes and is called noise because "it does not follow a logic pattern". But are we sure that we understand all logic?